About 120 hostages, five of them Americans, are believed still held by Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip adjoining Israel since Oct. 7.
One American, Edan Alexander, turned 20 in captivity on Dec. 29. Before he was taken hostage by Hamas, his mother Yael Alexander told her son that she loved him and to be safe.
“And that’s it, we hang up. I didn’t know I’m not going to hear from him again,” the captive’s mother said in an interview with the American Jewish Committee published in March.
Alexander was born in Tel Aviv but grew up in New Jersey. He chose to return to Israel to serve in the Israel Defense Forces after high school, a decision his mother says she remains proud of him for making.
Alexander was stationed on the Israel-Gaza border Oct. 7. Around 7 a.m. that morning, he spoke to his mother on the phone. He told her it was “like a war”…
